Sameerah Munshi, a sharp-witted advocate for parental rights and one of only three Muslim voices on President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, recently walked out from the panel.
Her resignation followed an explosive chain of events: the summary firing of her colleague Carrie Prejean-Boller — a Catholic who opposes Christian Zionism — the silencing of pro-Palestine dissent, and the war against Iran that Munshi labels both “unlawful” and “nonsense.”
Established in May 2025 with the goal of safeguarding religious freedom, the commission is now facing accusations of operating as a partisan echo chamber.
But for Munshi, the final straw wasn’t a single policy, but a chilling realisation that the room built to protect the First Amendment had become an engine for political loyalty.
In this exclusive interview with TRT World, Munshi pulls back the curtain on a world of “brainwashed” theological agendas, behind-the-scenes mockery of the Islamic faith, and the moment she realised that “protecting the President” had replaced protecting the Constitution.
TRT WORLD: Can you walk us through the exact moment you decided that remaining on the Religious Liberty Commission was no longer tenable?
Sameerah Munshi: It has been common knowledge for a while that Carrie Prejean-Boller has been pressured by the commission themselves to resign in the past, and then she’s been pressured not to speak about Gaza multiple times. I have also posted about Gaza and about Palestine throughout my time on the commission. Up until the hearing on anti-Semitism, when they rejected all of our witnesses who were critical of Israel, even though they were Jewish themselves, that was, for me, an alarm bell immediately that something was wrong.
I immediately walked on that day, seeing them pressure Carrie so viciously in that way. When Dan Patrick (Chairman and Texas lieutenant governor) said that Carrie was removed, I was already wondering, “Why am I even here?” What possibly could they do for Muslims in this country if they are silencing someone for speaking out based on her religious beliefs?
Then, also, the United States (attacked Iran). We had no reason to do so, according to even Joe Kent (ex-director of National Counterterrorism Center), who said our intelligence agencies had no reason to believe Iran was a threat. The only reason we were doing this was pressure from Israel. It’s nonsense. I was already concerned at that point — Carrie being supposedly removed and all of this coming out about how we need to attack Iran when it’s clearly not in our best interest.
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I was already wondering, ‘Why am I even here?’ What possibly could they do for Muslims in this country… if they are silencing someone for speaking out based on her religious beliefs?
Why do you think Trump administration has no regard for the Constitution’s protection of religious liberty?
SM: If they cared about constitutional protections or religious liberty and religious freedom, they would take my word seriously. People of faith are being persecuted when we speak out about our religious beliefs, specifically on Palestine. I told the commission explicitly that Muslims are being silenced because we talk about Palestine.
Any shutting down of criticism of Israel is not only dangerous to Jewish people in the United States, it creates violence in America itself when we are not allowed to freely criticise the Israeli state. We are asked to participate in normalising a genocide.
It is very clear that the United States doesn’t care about actually protecting religious liberty, because the Constitution is very clear that this country has religious freedom.
This doesn’t include a very specific theological position related to Christian Zionism.
You and Carrie formed a bond after the September 2025 hearing. What stood out to you about her approach compared to other members?
SM: The fact that she approached me… that was a very big step. She cared about Palestinian life. It was very clear to me that she wanted to protect Muslims in America.
She’s been very open to discussing our disagreements and hearing it from a Muslim herself, instead of hearing it from other people. Most Muslims are often talked about, but not talked to.
Carrie has said that Dan Patrick told her the job was to “protect the President” rather than religious freedom. Did you receive similar directives?
SM: They didn’t engage with me much personally. For example, the posts that I made, they thought that Carrie had helped write them. When I told them, “No, it wasn’t Carrie, it was me,” they kind of backed off. I think they were scared fully to confront a Muslim on the commission because they would lose their “diversity.”